Monday, July 28, 2008

So, how does a free trip end up costing $2,700?


San Diego Comic-Con International 2008 was extremely generous with Carolyn and me: since I was Special Guest this year, we had all our expenses covered -- roundtrip airfare for both of us from Toronto, five nights in the Omni right across the street from the convention center (where our suite number was 1701 -- the Enterprise's serial number!), and all our meals paid for.

And yet, I return to Toronto $2,700 poorer.

How, you ask?

By going nuts in the dealers' room! :) And very happily so. We only hauled $700 worth of stuff back with us; the rest is orders or pre-orders for merchandise that will be shipped later (with proper customs delcarations; I'll happily pay the Canadian tax when it arrives).

What kind of things did we get? Well, for one, the 15-inch statue of the Battlestar Galactica from Diamond Select Toys pictured above (we opted for this, the battle-damaged version, as it had more character than the pristine version). It's a good, not great, piece (I tend to agree with Sean Huxter's "B-minus" review over at Science Fiction Weekly), but we got a deal, and it's not like there's another large version of this ship available.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site


4 Comments:

At July 29, 2008 3:27 AM , Blogger Drakkenfyre said...

Ah, I have seen you many a time at conventions, but I've never seen you able to resist the siren call of the dealers' room. :D

 
At July 29, 2008 11:26 AM , Blogger RobertJSawyer said...

Hi, Drak. :) :)

As I have one of my characters say in the novel I'm currently writing, WATCH, "My childhood is on sale -- how could I not buy it?"

:)

 
At July 29, 2008 11:35 AM , Blogger Grognard Jeff said...

Jealous, so jealous, can the general public buy the Galactica anywhere?

 
At July 29, 2008 11:38 AM , Blogger RobertJSawyer said...

Hi, Jeff! Absolutely! Lots of comics-type shops will have it, and it's available direct from Diamond Select Toys right here. (The Galactica lists at US$150.)

 

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